World War 3: Rise of the Dragon (updated 27.07.15)

[Spey_Phantom]

Chapter 4.3.2: Reds Rolling in


September 6, 2024, in an attempt to keep NATO out of East-Germany, Soviet & GDR tank regiments assembled at the east-west German borders. whan NATO surveilance aircraft spotted the batalions, at first it was thought that it was just for exercises, but once the first regiment broke through the borders and fired on West-German military bases, all hell broke lose.

as a result, NATO forces immediatly responded, theyre mission: push the reds back into East-German borders.
West-German tank regiments and attack helicopters were deployed to fight off occupying communist forces. soon, they were joined by reenforcement from allied NATO members. during the attack, NATO noticed much of ints inteligence on the strength of the East-German Military was underestimated, the country had rapidly rearmed its forces with new and more modern weapon systems, including T-72 and T-80 tanks, Mi-28 and Mi-171 helicopters, MIG-29M2 fighter aircraft and Su-25 frogfoot attack aircraft.


Mil Mi-28A Havoc, DDR-NVA LSK
Kampfhubschraubergeschwader 5, Brandenburg-Briest, East-Germany

the GDR Peoples Air Force bought 30 ex-Russian Mil Mi-28A Havoc attack helicopters in 2013, these were early production aircraft that have become surplus in Russia after its units upgraded to the more advanced Mi-28NE. the first helicopters arrived in 2015, replacing the older and obsolete Mi-24 Hind-D's and -F's. the DDR-LSK Havocs were operated by KHG-5 in Brandenburg-Briest.

During the beginning of the armed conflict, these were used, in cooperation with Russian Attack helicopters, to provide fire support and air cover to Russian and DDR-NVA troops on the ground.

Model: Zvezda 1/72 Mil Mi-28A Havoc
Decals: kit + TOM East-German decals
Build Thread: http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,39383.msg651411.html#msg651411

[Jesse220]

Nice work on the copter

[Captain Canada]

Now we know the story behind the build ! lol. Nice one Nils. I don't think I went through the entire thread as in depth the last time I looked....but I have to say, I like it ! Nice read and some of the models are just wonderful. I love 144th scale kits.

[NARSES2]

Come out well Nils 

[buzzbomb]

Looking the goods.

[DogfighterZen]

Nice stuff here, both the story and the builds... Got me hooked! 

[Spey_Phantom]

UPDATE:

its been quite a while since i last posted an update regarding this story build, but i thought i would give you an update.
i know its been over 6 months since the last instalment, but ive been cought up in a number of personal issues, writers/modelers block,...

but i just wanted to let you all know, ther is a new chapter coming 
i cant say exactly when, but i can say ther are a number of projects standing in line to build/rebuild and there are more on the drawing board, including in 1/144, an Interflug Tu144, Belgian and Canadian A330-MRTT's, French Aeronavale A320-MPA, a KC-737 (no nationality chosen yet).....

in 1/72 scale, there are also various models down the pipeline, such as a Belgian H135M, Tiger-ARH, A400M (both in 1/144 and 1/72), RQ-9B Reaper, F-35A, West-German Army H145M, Russian Tucano, Ka-58,.....

as an extra addition, im also looking into adding some Civil aircraft and government transport in the mix, ive been playing the the idea of a VC-48 (Presidential Boeing 787-9, Air Force Two), Chinese AVIC/Airbus A320 SIGINT platform,....


just because there's no post, doenst mean there's nothing going on behind the scene's 
more soon.......

[Spey_Phantom]

Chapter 4.4: Battle for the Senkaku Islands.


after years of threats and demanding, the People's Republic of China decided to take maters into they're own hands regarding ownership of the Senkaku Islands and dispatched an amphibious assault fleet to invade the islands. Japan and the United States saw this as an act of aggression and immediatly declared war on PRC. Japan already forseen this kind of situaltion and build an artificial island with an Air Base some 400 kilometers from the Senkaku Islands, Horiose Air Base was to become the main operating base for allied operations in the region.

on October 17 2024, the PLAAF and PLAN started a large scale bomber campaign to destroy the base, with PLAN carrier based aircraft providing escort for the PLAAF's Harbin H-9A Backfire bombers. USAF and JASDF F-22A/J and F-3A Fighters were scrambled to intercept and destroy these bombers. althought they managed to fend off most of the fleet, the PLA succeded in neutralising the base, causing extensive damage that would cripple operations in the region for months. the fighters that survived the fight were to head back to the Japanese mainland.


F-22J Raptor, Japanese Air Self Defence Force,
301st Hikotai, Horiose AB, Senkaku Islands.

the JASDF was the first customer for the new Lockheed/Boeing F-22 Raptor 5th Generation Fighter.
the contract was the end result of almost a decade of lobbying, especially due to the Pentagons decision to ban export of the F-22 and its military sensitive technology. when in 2018, a toned-down export variant became available, the JASDF was able to order up to 80 aircraft, 60 of witch were built under license by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. these replaced the last of the venerable old F-15J Eagles Kai's.

the F-22J version was modified to meet JASDF requirements, although from the outside they looked the same as the USAF's F-22A's, the mostly incorporated Japanese avionics and weapon systems. the JASDF also installed a new datalink to improve data sharing and comunications between ground stations, AWACS, F-35AJ and F-3A fighters.

Model: Trumpeter 1/144 F-22A Raptor
Decals: kit + LS 1/144 F-4EJ Phantom

[Spey_Phantom]

Chapter 4.4.1: the Jarheads move in

after theyre defeat at Horiose Island, the Americans and Japanese regrouped and planned an assault to retake the base and force the Chinese out of the Senkaku Island region. bvacause the base is to far out from mainland Japan, the only way to go was by a Naval Assault.
the US Navy dispatched 2 carrier battle groups to provide Air Support and air cover for the landing forces, witch were provided by the JMSDF and US Marine Corps.

on December 8th 2024, "Operation: Orient Sun" was a go. despite heavy losses on both sides, the US and Japanese forces had managed to take back the base and 2 of the islands in the Senkaku region. but it was far from over, the Chinese didnt want give up the remaining islands without a fight and dispatched a large naval force to the region. the battle for the Senkaku Islands was about to get even hotter.


Lockheed F-35B Lightning II, US Marine Corps Aviation
VMFA-224 "Bengals", MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina.

in 2020, VMFA(AW)-224 was redesignated VMFA-224 and traded the ageing F/A-18D Legacy Hornets for the F-35B Lightning II.
the unit became fully operational with the type in 2023. by the time the Senkaku conflict broke out, the unit had aircraft on board the USS Bataan LHD. they were to provice Close Air Support to the landing US and Japanese Marines.

model: revell 1/144 X-35B JSF (salvaged from my bone yard)
decals: revell 1/144 F/A-18D Hornet

[NARSES2]

Markings suit her nicely

[DogfighterZen]

Yep, both the F-22 and 35 look good, but i do prefer the 35, those markings look really good on it! 

[Spey_Phantom]

Chapter 5.0: Meanwhile, in the US...

In the aftermath of recent events, the United States Air Force needed to rethink its strategies and upgrade its equipment.
in Europe, the F-15E Strike Eagles flown by USAFE units were reaching the end of theyre lifespan and the F-35A didnt live up to expectations as a "mud mover". while in the Asian theatre, the forces were under equiped.
recent budgetcuts in years have prevented the USAF from buying large numbers of advanced fighters such as the F-22A, the cost of the aircraft, even after reopening the productionlines and upgrading the aircraft, the aircraft's Air to ground capabilities were still to limited.

meanwhile, China was flight testing and producing new and advanced 5th generation aircraft such as the J-20, J-31 and others.
what worried the most was the H-20, an advanced fighter bomber, looking similar to the USAF's F-23A fighter, but with a larger airframe and payload, similar to the F-15E.

in the mean time, things were starting to get worse, as China's military was preparing to invade US allied nations in the region, and Russia was already starting to march over Eastern-Europe.


Northrop-Grumman F/A-23C Black Widow II, United States Air Force.
422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron (422 TES), 53rd Wing, Nellis AFB, Nevada.

the F/A-23C is a contineud development of the Northrop-Grumman F-23A fighter, of witch over 550 aircraft were built from 2001 onwards.
the new C-version was an improved variant of the F-23A, and differed conciderably from the F-23A baseline model.
the A-version showed little to no changes over the original YF-23 prototype aircraft, except for a few changes.

the new C-version included many changes, both external and internal. the F-23A was mostly an A2A fighter with limited A2G capability, the C-version incorporated the ability to use various new types of Air To ground weaponry, with a secondary A2A role, hense the redesignation "F/A-23".
external changes include the fitting of an EOTS under the nose and revised Diverterless Seamless intakes (DSI).
the internal changes include an upgraded cockpit with new avionics, full JHMCS integration, more powerfull and fuel efficient engines (uprated P&W F119-200EP)..... the first flight of this version was in december 2020, and service entry is exptected in 2027.
up to now, 4 EMD aircraft are being tested (EMD-07 to EMD-11, earlier EMD numbers before that are allocated to F-23A EMD program).

the USAF has so far ordered 120 aircraft, for units in Europe and Asia, there are also a number of foreign customers interested, including Belgium, Spain, Singapore, Germany and Turkey.



the basekit is a Trumpeter 1/144 YF-23, with scratchbuilt weapons bays and revides intakes, based on the drawings for the EMD version.
decals and external fueltanks are from a Trumpeter 1/144 F-22A Raptor.

the one thing i dislike about the trumpeter kit is the horribly innacurate canopy, but a little paintwork arround the edges can make it look quite usefull.











and here a comparison view between the YF-23 Prototype (Revell) and the F/A-23 EMD (Trumpeter)

[PR19_Kit]

and here a comparison view between the YF-23 Prototype (Revell) and the F/A-23 EMD (Trumpeter)

Apart from the awful Trumpy canopy that you've mentioned what are the differences between the two models?

[Spey_Phantom]

Apart from the awful Trumpy canopy that you've mentioned what are the differences between the two models?

ok, first off, the landing gear is shorter, placed lower to the ground. the kit doenst have to many recessed panel lines unlike the revell kit. the tailfins are void of detail and compared to the Revell kit, the Trumpeter kit does not have the option to build the internal weapons bay in an open position.

in terms of size, both kits are more or less equal.

[Captain Canada]

Look what I've been missing ! Great selection of stealthy whiffs Nils ! Love the look of these and now want to run out and buy a few myself. I really like the F-22 pair, and the new bomb bay on the -23 looks excellent.